Passing fad OR next Olympic water sport, Kayak Netball. According to Kayak Netball North Sydney, this is how it rolls: “Kayak Netball is a new kayak fitness game our North Sydney Kayaker’s have been playing this Summer. With two teams of four kayakers, the objective is to score a goal, using the game ball. Participants are not allowed to paddle if in possession of the ball, and they cannot hold onto the ball for more than three seconds. This is a fast paced game, allowing players to exercise their core muscles and get a really good, heart pumping cardio session at the same time.”

Fat Drug

Agricultural research has shown that antibiotics can act like a kind of super food to produce cheap meat. Young animals on antibiotics pack on kilos.

The New York Times asks: “what if that meat is us? Recently, a group of medical investigators have begun to wonder whether antibiotics might cause the same growth promotion in humans. New evidence shows that America’s obesity epidemic may be connected to our high consumption of these drugs.”

Food for thought.

The newest oldest trend

David Vivirido and Francesco Sourigues, two Spanish guys, are publishing a new magazine for women, Vamp.

“Magazines no longer bring news to the table. If you want to know what’s going on, you go online. So publications like ours are an extension of lifestyle, they are beautiful books, an aspirational and inspirational object,” says Vivirido.

Another publisher who sees the value and opportunity in hard copy publishing is Melbourne businessman, Morry Schwartz. In March he launched The Saturday Paper. Available in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney, the venture, which offers readers longer more analytic pieces of journalism, has raised eyebrows.

Rapid stress management

Harvard Business Review - HBR’s new Managing Stress at Work takes a new look at a snappy issue. We’ve all heard that consistent stress can change the chemistry of the brain, affecting our abilities to think and problem solve, and reducing our effectiveness at work and at home. Stress is more than just a productivity damper. The long-term physical effects on mind and bodies are harmful. HBR has stepped in with its little stress management gem; meditation, going for a walk and, for some of us, a trip to Officeworks and a new pen, can also defuse the situation.

Under sea and on land

Recently reported in a piece about youth sub-cultures which asked, do they exist or has the internet made sub-cultures move so quickly they’re only here a day before being made fun of the next, Ruby came across these two phenomena: Seapunks and Haul Girls.

Seapunks started as a joke on Twitter and morphed into a way of dressing, dancing, music. It goes some way toward explaining the spate of bad blue and green hair dye jobs that float across your vision when groups of teenagers are on excursions in the city.

Haul Girls are an online phenomena. Young girls (mainly) parade their latest fashion and beauty purchases via video. It’s called vlogging (video blogging). You can catch them on YouTube, and WikiHow to do anything has a 9-step guide to becoming a Haul Girl celebrity. Basically, Haul Girls take their consumerist life and style, video it and use it to influence the purchasing habits and power of thousands of other young girls.